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persecution grew. Peter again had
been imprisoned. Steven had been
stoned to death. In Acts
8:1
" ... there was a great persecution
against the church ... and they were
al! scattered abroad throughout the
regions of Judaea and Samaria, ex–
cept the apostles."
By the following Passover, perse–
cution had mounted. "About that
time Herod the king stretched forth
his hands to vex certain of the
church . And he killed James the
brother of John with the sword. And
because he saw it pleased the Jews,
he proceeded further lo take Peter
also. (Then were the days of unleav–
ened bread.) And when he had ap–
prehended him, he put him in pris–
on ... intending after [Passover] lo
bring him forth to the people. Peter
therefore was kept in prison ..."
(Acts
12:1-5).
Why Members Called
Now carne another example of how
the Church stood back of the apos–
tles. Remember, the word
apostle
means "one sent forth. " Jesus had
given the great commission to Peter
and the apostles. T he other members
of the Church were not sent forth
with the gospel. They were called to
support and encourage the apostles in
getting out the gospel message, as
Goo's MEANS of developing in them
God's holy, righteous CHARACTER,
qualifying them for places as kings
and priests in the KI NGDOM!
So here carne
another· /ncident
showing how the Church supported
the apostles. Continue, verse 5 of
Acts
12: " ...
but prayer was made
without ceasing of the church unto
God for him"-Peter. The brethren
stood loyally
100
percent back of
God's apostles.
What happened when the Church
so u·nceasingly prayed? " ... The
same night Peter was sleeping be–
tween two soldiers,
bound with two
chains:
and the keepers before the
door kept the prison. And, behold,
the angel of the Lord carne upon him,
and a light shined in the prison: and
he smote Peter on the side, and raised
him up, saying, Arise up quickly.
And his chains fell off from his
hands" (verses 6-7), and Peter fol–
lowed the angel on out of the prison.
Peter fted on to Caesarea.
Jesus gave His GREAT COMMISSION
44
to the apostles-those sent forth with
the message. The !ay brethren
were
added
to the Church to
support
the
apostles.
The Great Commission
Notice the GREAT COMMISSION as re–
corded by Matthew: ''Now the eleven
disciples [Judas had left them] went
to Galilee, to the mountain to which
Jesus had directed them... . And Je–
sus carne and said to them [not the
whole Church], All authority in
heaven and on earth has been given
to me. GO, THEREFORE, and make
disciples of all nations .... " Notice,
"make disciples OF," or within al!
nations. A disciple is a student-one
learning, being taught. " ... baptiz–
ing them in the name of tbe Father
and of the Son and of the Holy Spir–
it. ..."Notice here, tbis does not and
cannot refute Jesus ' own stalement
that "NO MAN CAN come to me, ex–
cept the Father which hath sent me
draw him." The GREAT COMMISSION
was not a commission to try to per–
suade ALL in those nations to cometo
Christ. Jesus said plainly, " ... make
disciples OF [within] all nations." He
referred to those whom God had
called- and
they were, comparative–
ly, exceedingly
FEW
by proportion to
the whole population. Then Jesus
continued, " ... teaching them to ob–
serve all that I have commanded you;
and lo, 1 am with you always, to the
clos.e of the age" (Matthew
28:16-20,
Revised Standard Yersion).
The apostles were NOT sent forth
on a soul-saving crusade, but to
TEACH those whom God had called
and made willing to listen. That is
what God's apostle does to this day.
Today we are able to utilize modern
methods Of MASS COMMUNICATION–
radio, television, the printing press.
We TEACH the good news of the com–
ing KtNGDOM to those whom God
calls and makes wiJiing to listen. In
this way we TEACH and PROCLAIM
the true COSPEL MESSAGE to many
MI LLIONS worldwide. Our magazine,
The Plain Truth ,
has more than TWO
MILLION subscribers, and estimates
are that each copy is read by at least
three people-actually reaching six
or seven MILLION people! And we
teach all
who willingly listen
to ob–
serve all that God commanded His
a post les!
Now notice Mark's account of the
GREAT COMMISSION: "Afterward he
appeared unto the eleven.... And he
said unto them, Go
YE
into all the
world, and preach the gospel to every
creature" (Mark
16:14, 15).
Natu–
rally Jesus did not mean every hu–
man being on earth- but all they
might reach who would hear. "He
that believeth and is baptized shall
be saved...." Yet only those God
called
would be able to believe- for
Jesus meant they should believe what
was SAIO- believe the GOOD NEWS!
However, this is quoted from the
1611
King James Yersion, but nearly
all other translations omit it, saying
Mark did not write the words begin–
ning in verse 9 through the end of the
chapter, but that they were added by
sorne later editor trying to make it
harmonize with Matthew
28:18-19.
But the great commission was giv–
en to the apostles-not the Church as
a whole-although as cited above,
the Church completely, prayerfully,
wholeheartedly backed up and sup–
ported the apostles. That was their
part in the great commission. o
(To Be Continued)
\VHEREWILL
YOUBE
INTHE
NEXT LIFE?
Ves, there is lite alter death. But
it's not at all like the "heaven"
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why not request two free book–
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